Archive for March, 2015

Much and all as they wanted to participate, today my boys had to learn to be good team players from the sidelines when we went to support our friend Mike at a volleyball tournament in downtown Atlanta.

I explained to Keane how he had to cheer Mike and his team on for behind the black line, so of course he got as close as he could without breaking the rules. “See momma? My still behind the line.”

Cullen was saving up all his cheering energy for later in the game.

Keane was very excited to see Mike rocking is shamrock socks.

Game on.

Getting some air.

And hitting the boards.

Look who woke up.

A break in cheering for Mike to play on the bleachers.

Keane trys to engage Cullen in a sideline game.

“Oh look, something tiny”

YAY! A victory for Mike’s team and a group shot with teammate Sanders and support team, Keane and Cullen.

More often then we care to admit, us mothers can really come up against some tough days with our precious children. Today I had such a day. My one year old was a straight up monster, absolutely nothing made him happy. The whole world and its existence just seemed to be pissing him off. His favorite nursery rhythms made him cry louder. Our attempt at playing with some of his favourite toys resulted in most of them receiving a good kicking. Snacks were met with an angry swoop of the right hand. Keane even offered up 2 of his beloved bouncy balls to help brighten up Cullen’s day. Cullen accept the gifts and then went on to toss them across the room. Great, now not only was I dealing with a monster baby, but now I had a toddler who’s feelings had just been heartlessly discarded and bounced off the far wall of the room. I wanted to give up. To run away or just sit on the floor and cry. But of course, mothers don’t have that luxury. No, mothers have to rally, to push on and dig into the creative banks, dig for a new angle, a new idea, dig like your life depends on it, or at least your ability to survive that particular day depends on it. So in a desperate frenzy I looked around for something, anything to help take the edge off all of the upset and emotion and to somehow regain control. And there it was, sitting in the corner of the room, full of potential and endless creative possibilities, perhaps the one thing that was going to stop me losing my mind today, the cardboard box. And so began project “Lets make a bus”.

Keane helped me draw the windows of the bus and I did cutting.

Then I handed the bus over to Keane and Cullen for painting.

Cullen spent the first few minutes enjoying all of the colorful paints.

Then he was ready to give it a go.

“Look Cu’en, I show you how to paint your hands”

“See!?!”

The face of a baby just daring the world to piss him off.

A little payback for tossing his bouncy balls across the room perhaps?

For the curious and concerned out there, I’m happy to report that we now have running water. We are clean, hydrated, happy and due to our period of temporary waterlessness, a little more aware and conservation of our water consumption. Nothing like a third world experience to make you grateful for your first world luxuries. And to celebrate we decided to spend our Saturday morning getting sweaty and dirty running some repeat hills. Most of The Husband’s football clients returned to their respective colleges this weekend for their Pro-Days, all except JB. JB’s Pro-Day is not for another week, so in the absence of his training buddies, he had to take on the dreaded hills solo, or did he? Lets take a look at who showed up to offer him some pacing assistance.

Yep, thats Keane, getting ready to help JB take on the nasty ass hill. Set!

Go!

Absolutely no doubt, these boys are giving it everything.

JB’s strength shows as he opens up a little distance between himself and Keane.

But Keane will not quit. He is making it to the top. JB throws out some encouraging vibes as he makes his way back down.

Hell Yay we made it.

Cullen thought he wanted to join in, but didn’t fully understand the starting process and kept yelling at Keane for crouching down.

I’m still existing in a cloud of jet-lag. I’ve been so focused on getting the boys schedule back on American track and dealing with a couple of disasters that occurred during our absence. Some small like a broken remote, flat tyre on the car, and some big like a burst water pipe during the freeze here in Georgia thats currently left us without water. I swear I will never take water for granted again. Now that I’ve been reduced to buying water for drinking and making the daily trek to The Husbands gym to fill empty buckets and jugs, not to mention shower, I’ve come to appreciate the true luxury of running water in the home. Right now we’re not sure when we will rejoin our first world water status, its a matter of trying to locate where exactly the burst pipe has occurred and unfortunately for us, it could be anywhere along 1000 yards of pipe thats burned under ground. So we literally have to start drilling for water. Until then, if you spot me in the early evening sunlight, washing our clothes down by the lake, do beep your horn and offer a friendly wave, even a little kindness can brighten the hardest of days.

Pictures of my boys completely unrelated to the topic at hand, but just cos they are so cute.

We are back from the Emerald Isle, back from a trip that saw us bound to the great indoors for 98% of our stay. Between weather and sick babies there was no real opportunity to take the fun outside. But thats what can happen when you decide to take a trip in February. Outside of those challenges the kids really enjoyed being spoilt by their grandparents and getting to run wild with their Irish cousins. Below is a little photo share of some of the highlights of our time back home.

The evening of our arrival the boys received some late Christmas gifts from granny and granddad. So the next morning we were off for a test drive.

Pausing to look for the cows.

Keane thinks he sees them “way far away“.

Off for a country walk.

A little inside fun with the cousins. Cullen and Emily practice their penalty skills.

And who doesn’t love a go around in an oversized teacup.

Packed in nice and tight.

Another birthday party to celebrate Cullen turing 1. But instead of a tradition candle, granny showed up with a flamethrower. It might be just me, but I definitely see fear in the eyes of those kids, well expect Emily, who’s practically begging the cake to explode.

It takes a team of kids to blow that flamethrower out.

One of the last mornings of our trip and we awoke to the sight of light fallen snow. So out we went to give Cullen his first snow experience. And he LOVED it. Just kidding, that is not the face of a happy baby.